Westons Cider is just a few minutes drive from here and has been making cider for over 130 years. The managing director is the great great grand-daughter of the founder. The company makes ciders and perry from cloudy scrumpy to organic and sparkling vintages, but you will also find a Visitors’ Centre with a courtyard garden, Traditional and Rare Breeds Farm Park, Orchard Walk, Restaurant and Cafe and a Gift and Cider shop, where you can buy your drinks to take away. Only cider apples, with wonderful names like Slack Ma Girdle and Harry Master’s Jersey are used in the manufacture of Weston’s Cider, unlike in other parts of the country where a mixture  of dessert and culinary apples are used. True cider apples contain more tannin and are often smaller than eating apples. They are inedible, but it matters little as they are crushed for their juice. Perry pears are also hard and inedible, with names like Merrylegs, Brandy, Claret and Gin! Westons uses fruit from its 200 acres of orchards and from about 250 local farmers.  It is possible to take a tour of Westons, particularly interesting at harvest time. Click on the pictures to take you to the Westons website.

These four small boys are among the latest in a line of small boys dating back as far as the C13th. Along with the lay clerks (the men of the choir who sing Tenor, Bass and Alto) they provide choral music for the cathedral’s daily services and special occasions. They also broadcast on radio and TV, make recordings for DVD, give concerts and go on international tours. A visit to the cathedral at Evensong is a wonderful opportunity to hear these angelic voices, and tomorrow, March 19th, the boys will be singing Stabat Mater from the Eton Choirbook. The piece was written by John Browne shortly before Henry VIII became king and was recently discussed on Radio 3’s In Tune. Unaccompanied, it is in six parts and is rarely performed. Click on the photo to take you to the cathedral’s website.

“Hay hoovers up the best writers published in the world. This has over the years, created a self-reinforcing phenomenon: they get the best, and so the best want to come.” The Guardian. However, not only writers come to Hay; there are also musicians and comedians and commentators. This year will see Howard Jacobson, for example, but also Jo Brand, Mohamed ElBaradei, Vanessa Redgrave (on Palestine) and Sandi Toksvig. Rowan Williams will be there too - and The Afro Celt Sound System sounds awfully interesting! Click on the photo to take you through to the Hay Festival website.

Here is Daubentons, our new property coming soon, covered in thick snow to match the white cowl on top of the hop kiln.

Visitors to The Wainhouse will be familiar with the little butterfly-shaped boxes containing one black and one white chocolate which we leave as part of their welcome basket, and those guests arriving at Christmas or Easter into any of the cottages know they will receive larger selections of these chocolates made and sold in Ledbury by Ben and Melissa Boyle. The cocoa beans for the Belgian chocolate buttons which Ben uses come from all over the world. He transforms them into a wide selection of chocolates and he and Mel are now planning to sell them online too. Click on any of the photos to take you to their website.